MLB insider suspects Yankees could get Sean Manaea for cheap in trade

While the 2022 regular season is projected to start in just a few days, the New York Yankees are still in the market for some rotation upgrades. The Oakland Athletics, continuing in their eternal quest to field a team made exclusively of league-minimum players, are more than likely willing to part ways with Sean Manaea.

On top of the fact that the A’s appear to be heading towards a very long rebuild, Oakland does not want to pay Manaea the hefty contract post-arbitration that he has earned. The Yankees still have Gerrit Cole at their disposal, but the parade of question marks behind him could prompt a trade for a starter.

While top prospects like wunderkind Anthony Volpe and the promising Oswald Peraza have been brought up as potential trade pieces in trades for some better pitchers across the league, it would take an awful lot for the Yankees to move off of either of them. And the latest buzz makes it sound like both players are off limits for Oakland.

In an appearance on the R2C2 podcast, Ken Rosenthal claimed that the Yankees should be able to acquire Manaea without giving up either Volpe or Peraza. With Manaea a free agent after this year, Oakland would be foolish to dig in and expect one of those guys in a trade.

The New York Yankees could trade for Sean Manaea on the cheap.

Over the last four seasons, Manaea has posted a solid 3.68 ERA while striking out nearly one batter per inning and keeping the ball in the park. With a solid mid 90s fastball that can sink and a deadly changeup he used to get strikeouts, Manaea’s stuff and production can’t be questioned.

The lefty might be considered a rental by some close to the Yankees, but the team has enough money coming off the books next year to sign the veteran southpaw, extend Aaron Judge, and avoid the most punitive luxury tax thresholds.

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Manaea might require two or three prospects to bring to the Bronx, but the Yankees should not give in to any demands of relinquishing one of their five best prospects. A couple of mid-level arms with the potential to quickly soar through the ranks as bullpen pieces could be enough to get the job done.

If Brian Cashman is able to pull this off, Manaea could easily become the team’s No. 2 starter given how all of the other potential options in the rotation are either trying to recover from a shaky 2021 or fighting injury concerns. Giving up a substantial chunk of the future to get him, however, could quickly become a disaster, but it’s obvious the Yankees are likely to avoid that base on what we’ve heard recently.

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